
BORN TO BE WILD!
CITY OF DARWIN LIGHTBOX EXHIBITIONS.
Wild North Comics is a Darwin-based comic collective and independent publisher. From March to September 2023, Wild North artists are being showcased as part of the City of Darwin's Lightbox Exhibitions.
Visit out sites around Darwin at these public art exhibitions sites: Smith St Mall, Dragonfly Carpark (Smith St, Chinatown) and Nightcliff Pool.
Learn more about the artists and their work below and buy their comics through wildnorthcomics.com
INTERVIEWS WITH THE ARTISTS

NEKOJITA
Artist: Ariel Racines
Nekojita is Japanese for ‘cat’s tongue’ which describes someone who is sensitive to hot food or drinks.
“Although anime is praised in most parts of Asia, there is still a stigma toward it in the West. However, my art is meant to inspire,
not necessarily to change minds. I create my artwork using digital illustrations inspired by anime and television shows of my youth.
Geek culture embraces the weird uniqueness of characters, stories and of life itself! In this piece I wanted to transform something mundane and make it weird or strange and bring it to life. Art is a place where you can embrace yourself freely and enlighten the critics. All I say is that art is an open book of
yourself, don't let anyone change that.”
Ariel Racines was born and raised in Darwin from Filipino heritage and is influenced by anime and geek culture. This art piece was the winner of the Tropicon 2022 Art Prize.

ALCYON
Artist: Emmanuelle Aliotti
“For centuries dragons have been a subject of fascination, envy, dreams and fear. They represent the good and evil forces, but
mostly they are a symbol of power, balance, and nature’s elements. We often dream about Dragon myths and how they could be mixed with our reality, therefore dragons are a perfect subject to transfer people’s life experience into a fantasy world."
Emmanuelle Aliotti (Manue) was born and raised in France with mixed French/Indonesian heritage. She is a self-taught artist and is influenced by the cultural traditions and ancient legends she has encountered in her travels.

CHIMÆRA
Mat "Blue" Selwyn
Blue has loved comic and fantasy art from a young age and has been drawing as long as he can remember. After years of honing his skills, he stepped into the tattoo industry and hasn't looked back. He has always focused on different forms of visual art to compliment his tattooing work. Recently comic art has come back to the forefront and the Wild North publications provided an outlet for that work. This piece was inspired by Japanese woodblock prints and an upcoming science fiction collaboration with writer Timothy Parish about genetic engineering and post-humanism.

TERROR OF THE MARSH
Artist: Theofilos Rigas
Terror of the Marsh (2022) is a classic depiction of a primordial force of nature, which represents fear and greed against the hero who can overcome himself to defeat the creature. The work itself was completed traditionally with ink, however was coloured digitally.
“My work aims to convey the heroic spirit. Power, tragedy, courage, love, victory, and defeat can all be found in my pieces.
Through the realm of imagination these values are allowed to reveal themselves. I urge the viewer to look through the thin veil of dreams to see the noblest characteristics of the human spirit within!”
Theofilos Rigas was raised in Darwin from a Greek-Australian heritage and is currently studying medicine. He is a self-taught artist, and his influences include Frank Frazetta, Jeff Jones, Barry Windsor Smith, Bouguereau and Caravaggio.
.jpg)
YA BASTA!
Artist: Jonathon Saunders
“Ya Basta! is a full-page spread from the Zero-Point Origins comic book featuring the Timor Leste superhero Millennium Star. His costume colours and motifs are based on the Timor Leste flag, with some battle damage to show he's been fighting The Fist militia forces for a while.”
Jonathon Saunders is an Indigenous artist, writer and animator who has lived and worked in Darwin, since he was a
child. He is the creator of Zero-Point Origins – a comic book and animated web-series about a world where superheros have been regulated by the Government. It follows Kyle Burton, an Australian superhero who discovers he can access the latent zero-point energy of the universe.

SPACE ROBSPACE ROBOTS OF THE FORGOTTEN FUTURE
Artist: Dan Hartney
“Humans will be using robots to explore and colonise space well into the future. Like the explorers of past centuries, they will be
sent hurtling through the cosmos to discover planets in advance of human colonisation.
My comic Space Robots of the Forgotten Future asks the questions: What would happen if humans never followed? Would the robots start to question their existence? Would they start to question the existence of humans?”
Dan Hartney began making comics when he was ten years old and worked as cartoonist in Hanoi, Vietnam after High School before getting the itch for animation. He spent the next 25 years creating award-winning films and music videos, and only in the last two years, has fallen back in love with comics. He
now combines 3D animation skills with digital illustration to tell the myriad of stories in his head.

GLITCH #1 Comic Excerpt
ARTIST: Rosharn Deslandes
Based in a dystopian future, GLITCH #1 explores humanity’s relationship to and reliance on technology. It follows a young
rebel leader forced to team up with a broken android on a quest to bring down both elite society and the advanced A.I.s ‘pulling the strings of humanity’.
“We have advanced into such a complex technological world that existing without technology is virtually unattainable. Technology thrives due to human innovation, and we are in a continual union, yet what would happen if the machines no longer needed humans? Creating comics allows me the freedom to explore all my passions while connecting with the reader about genuine and
concerning issues present in society today.”
Rosharn Deslandes is a multi-disciplinary artist currently studying Digital and Visual Art at Charles Darwin University.

EXISTENTIAL DREADS
Artist: Todd Williams
Todd Williams has been a Darwinite since 1970 and has survived forty-nine build-ups and at least seven dogs.
Graduating from the Northern Territory University Fine Arts department in 1985, he became an apprentice rock legend for a while before turning to graphic design and film making. Over the years he has exhibited in many solo and group shows across Darwin and now works as a videographer, director and producer at the NT Music School as well as regularly contributing to theatre projects with his partner Gail Evans.
“This piece is the cover of my new comic project Existential Dreads. The story follows Hornman and Dog who are concerned
about the arrival of B52s at the local army base and take to the bunkers to escape the mighty wrath of the enemy’s President.”
​
.jpg)
EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL A.I.
Timothy Parish
“Extra-Terrestrial A.I. is an excerpt from my upcoming graphic novel Chronos: The Spacetime Machine - a mind-bending
psychedelic science fiction story that explores the boundaries of consciousness and the imagination. For this project I am experimenting with artificial intelligence imaging software to explore how it can be used as a collaborator in the creative
process.”
Timothy Parish is a Darwin-born visual artist, writer, film maker and Editor-In-Chief of Wild North Comics. He is the Creative Director of Undergrowth Productions and his films
and documentaries have been screened on ABC iView and in festivals around Australia and internationally.
​
.jpg)
FUTURE TALES
Anneke P. Putri
“Once upon a time... our world ended. No one knew where they came from or what they wanted, but they took everything. They called themselves the World Order Liberation Federation or W.O.L.F. We fought back as best we could... The survivors now live
in three hidden underground cities, each run by a resistance leader, ex-cops colloquially known as The Three Pigs. Now we fight to survive. We fight for our happily ever after.”
Indonesian born artist Anneke Putri collaborated with screenwriter Philip Tarl Denson to create Future Tales: Part
One - reimagining classic fairy tales in the science fiction cyberpunk genre. To create this piece, Anneke incorporated photographs of Darwin City using photoshop and digital
illustration to construct the backdrop of a post-apocalyptic metropolis.
​
Proudly supported by
CITY OF DARWIN
City of Darwin Lightbox Exhibitions promote high quality illuminated art in the public realm, showcasing Darwin’s creative community and contributing to the pedestrian experience.
For more information go to the website, call or send us an email.
Website: www.darwin.nt.gov.au
Email: arts@darwin.nt.gov.au | Phone: 8930 0300